When Ball State plays its marquee football road game in 2018, there will be no long flight to another part of the country. Those trips have become typical as the Cardinals play an annual game at a power-conference school, with past trips to schools such as Oklahoma and Clemson and a planned 2015 visit to Texas A&M.

But Ball State announced Monday it will play at Notre Dame on Sept. 8, 2018, finding a game that provides significant exposure and a prestigious opponent without the arduous travel schedule.

"It's really, really monumental," Ball State coach Pete Lembo said. "The fact that we're playing in a historic stadium against such a storied program and a team that's on national TV every week. And perhaps the most exciting thing about it is that it's not just about our student-athletes, it's about the entire university."

Lembo cited several advantages in scheduling the Fighting Irish. The shorter distance allows more Ball State fans to make the trip to the game. It provides an appealing game for prospective Ball State players from Indiana or cities in Michigan and Illinois close to Notre Dame, or even players from other parts of the country who grew up with a respect for Notre Dame. Lembo also hopes to take a larger traveling squad that what he can typically take on longer road trips.

"When you're playing a game right within the borders of your own state, it just makes it that much more special," Lembo said.

Ball State has played Indiana and Purdue, Indiana's other two FBS programs, in the past. The Cardinals last played the Hoosiers in 2012 and last met the Boilermakers in 2010. But the Cardinals have never faced the Fighting Irish. Lembo said that lack of prior history made Notre Dame even more appealing in hoping to schedule the Fighting Irish.

Former Ball State athletic director Bill Scholl spent a significant stretch of his career at Notre Dame, as did current deputy athletic director Brian Hardin. Lembo said Scholl's and Hardin's relationships with Notre Dame officials helped simplify the process.

"A lot of people don't appreciate how challenging it is to put a meaningful and competitive football schedule together," Lembo said. "There's so many different pieces involved, on both ends. Institutions have different priorities and goals when it comes to football scheduling. And you're talking about a very finite number of out-of-conference games, a finite number of dates when it's available. So it's really hard to make this all work. And the fact that we were able to get this done, it says a lot about the people on both ends."

Ball State has now filled two of its four non-conference slots for the 2018 season. It will play a home game against Western Kentucky on Sept. 22. Lembo said he hopes to find another FBS program to fill one of the two games as part of a home-and-home arrangement similar to the one with Western Kentucky. The other open slot will likely go to an FCS program making a trip to Muncie.

Notre Dame is coming off an 8-5 season that ended with a Music City Bowl victory against LSU. Ball State went 5-7 and missed the postseason in 2014 after consecutive bowl berths in 2012 and 2013.